Hunger

Hunger is not something I have really experienced, aside from that occasional missed meal. My passport country has food, and I am accustomed to eating regularly.

Papua New Guinea, too, is a land full of food. Mangoes, papayas, bananas, pineapples, and watermelon are all in bounty. Some foods Papua New Guineans have to work a little harder for, such as their daily dose of sago and their tasty garden produce, but they, too, know what it’s like to feel fat and happy.

Well, for a myriad of reasons, food was a little harder to come by for the first week out in the bush, and it didn’t take long for food to occupy a large portion of my thoughts. I was part of two teams sent out to Nuku district to hold Culture Meets Scripture (CMS) workshops for two weeks. I had never seen a CMS before and went in with great enthusiasm. The enthusiasm didn’t waver, but feelings of hunger did rise to match it.

About the middle of the week on a Wednesday or Thursday morning, I was reading the Psalms before the day began in earnest. I was enjoying every crumb of my rationed cracker biscuit as I sat down with Papa God and His Word. I read Psalm 25 a few times, and was suddenly hit by the last line of verse 7: “You are merciful, O LORD.” I read that one line over and over and over, and suddenly my spirit was crying out for more of God. In a rush, I was asking God to make me hungry for Him. Hunger pains and thoughts of food had become an hourly/bi-hourly reality for me – how spectacular it would be to be that hungry for God and to be constantly fed, a constant state of hunger and satiation.

Later that day, I sat with one of the groups of ladies. We had just finished an activity and now were just sitting down together, talking about God and the Bible. I shared with them what I had learned that morning – that we must at all times be hungry for God and His Word, and that His Word is the best food in the whole world. Sometimes we forget just how rich, savory, and hearty God’s Word is, and in those moments we must ask God to increase our hunger.

Story by Nancy Kinsel